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This study is aimed at evaluating the contribution of IFB to economic development of the country-Ethiopia, the level of stakeholder awareness and attitude towards the IFB services, the comparative advantages of IFB, the factors that account for the growth of IFB, and challenges and prospect in the Ethiopian context by considering two banks that are providing IFB services: Oromia International Bank S.C. and Commercial Bank of Ethiopia. The study used both primary and secondary data. The secondary data was collected from clients' files, reports, directives and working documents while the primary data was collected through structured questionnaire having Likert scale and other forms of measurement. Out of 200 target population of the study, 150 individuals' sample was taken through stratified sampling techniques. The collected data was analyzed using descriptive analysis like tables, percentages and charts (using SPSS 20 version software) and t-test. The finding of the study depicts inadequacy of stakeholder awareness and experience in one hand, and limiting impact of the prevailing IFB provision on the service IFB on the other. Most respondents believe that IFB can potentially serve as an alternative banking channel in filling the gap left unaddressed by conventional banking and economic development: idle monetary resource mobilization and allocation, inviting to use banking system, creating employment opportunity, supporting GDP growth and assisting in stabilizing crisis and arresting inflation. On top of that, the respondents suggested various factors that account for growth of IFB and forwarded valuable recommendations that help IFB to play the expected role in economic development. IFB prohibition on business dealings that are against the public interest is regarded by the writer as a new insight towards engaging in sustainable business while caring for the society. Some scholars around the world consider the use of IFB as more convenient for economic development. The result of this research also indicates that considering revisiting the infrastructure of IFB in Ethiopia could enhance its comfortable operation and its role in assisting economic development. In conclusion, IFB is deemed to play an integral role in Ethiopia in catalyzing the economic development subject to adequate awareness creation about its governing principles, compliance with prohibitions, familiarity with operating philosophies, expertise capacity building of operators-bankers, experience sharing from Islamic banking-pioneering countries, and devising enabling regulatory environment. Accordingly, plausible courses of action were forwarded by the researcher based on the conclusive results of the findings in conjunction with literature review reflections: creating awareness, providing tailored and sustainable training for practitioners, best-practice experience sharing from Islamic banking-pioneering countries, government support, revisiting the IFB provision for possible revision where applicable to an enabling level. Key words; IFB/Islamic banking/, CB, Sharia principle, economic development, Ethiopia

Age at first marriage has a significant effect on birth interval. This study investigates the relationship between age at marriage to birth interval and its associated factors in Ethiopia. The objective of the study is to examine the estimated age at first marriage to first birth interval and its main associated factors by age at first marriage and place of residence in Ethiopia. Data from the Ethiopia Demographic Health Survey (EDHS) 2011 were used. The Cox proportional hazard model is used to determine the significant factors contributing towards age at marriage to first birth interval in Ethiopia. The findings from the Cox proportional hazard model indicate that age at first marriage, religion, region, educational level and work status are the most important significant covariates of 'age at first marriage to first birth interval' in Ethiopia. Age at first marriage of women and their socio-economic factors contribute to differences in first birth interval. On the contrary, in Muslim-dominated regions such as Somali, the time of transition to motherhood is early due to their religious belief.

The floriculture sector is booming in Ethiopia, making the country the second largest flower exporter in Africa and one of the largest suppliers of flowers globally. Despite the enormous advantages of the Ethiopian floriculture industry to the country's economy, the industry's unsustainability related to environmental and human rights is growing. Failure to protect the environment can have profound negative impacts on long-term economic development and human rights, including the right to life, adequate food, water and housing. The floriculture industry has been identified as having the potential to grow and contribute positively to the agricultural transformation and economy of Ethiopia. Policy, laws and regulations play a vital role in the implementation of any regulatory objective. During the last decade, Ethiopia has developed many policies and laws that link to improving the environment, and the flower farm industry itself has adopted self-regulation and standards, enhancing the protection of workers and the environment. But there is increasing evidence that the economic benefits of the flower industry come at the expense of the environment. So, what is the impact of these State and non-State regulations on a safe and clean environment? This paper aims to analyse how, why and under what circumstances environmental policy implementation might work or fail, by investigating the challenges for the floriculture industry relating to the intensive use of pesticides and water, and inappropriate waste disposal in the policy implementation process. It is safe to say that Ethiopia has developed a lot of legislation on the environment but the challenge of effective monitoring and enforcement remains. This paper concludes with recommendations, based on the fact that the principles of environmental rights, the right to life and the right to development cannot be realised in the absence of the right to a healthy environment.

The Raya-Kobo valley is characterized by good groundwater resources potential (excess of 198 Mm3) located in northern Ethiopia. The total area of the valley is approximated to be 3510 Km2. Despite this potential of groundwater, the area has been suffering from droughts. Establishment and expansion of cooperative societies, small business enterprises and irrigation farming were given priority as interventions to address the food security problem in the valley. These interventions were designed and implemented in the last several years by the regional governments administrating the Raya-Kobo valley, and groundwater is used as a source of water for irrigation farming for more than nine to ten years. Nevertheless, food insecurity is still a major problem in the area. The present study has been conducted to investigate the extent of contribution of the groundwater based intervention in the elimination food insecurity. The study was conducted by collecting, analyzing and interpreting all the existing relevant data of the study area. Groundwater potential was compiled from the author's previous works and recently conducted research works. The impact of the groundwater based irrigation on food security issues was assessed using informal and formal interviews and focus group discussions. Limited area coverage of the irrigated land and the long time taken for the extension works in those drilled productive wells are the major limitations in the Kobo valley that makes the groundwater based irrigation unable to release the farmers of the area from the food insecurity. In Raya valley, besides to these problems, absence of responsible office, failure of pump, and the long time taken for pump maintenance are also the major factors. In Raya-Kobo valley food security is highly related to the availability of water. Irrigating the whole potential irrigable area, increasing and sustaining availability of groundwater and management of the irrigation scheme are vital to eradicate food insecurity from Raya-Kobo valley.

The Raya-Kobo valley is characterized by good groundwater resources potential (excess of 198 Mm3) located in northern Ethiopia. The total area of the valley is approximated to be 3510 Km2. Despite this potential of groundwater, the area has been suffering from droughts. Establishment and expansion of cooperative societies, small business enterprises and irrigation farming were given priority as interventions to address the food security problem in the valley. These interventions were designed and implemented in the last several years by the regional governments administrating the Raya-Kobo valley, and groundwater is used as a source of water for irrigation farming for more than nine to ten years. Nevertheless, food insecurity is still a major problem in the area. The present study has been conducted to investigate the extent of contribution of the groundwater based intervention in the elimination food insecurity. The study was conducted by collecting, analyzing and interpreting all the existing relevant data of the study area. Groundwater potential was compiled from the author's previous works and recently conducted research works. The impact of the groundwater based irrigation on food security issues was assessed using informal and formal interviews and focus group discussions. Limited area coverage of the irrigated land and the long time taken for the extension works in those drilled productive wells are the major limitations in the Kobo valley that makes the groundwater based irrigation unable to release the farmers of the area from the food insecurity. In Raya valley, besides to these problems, absence of responsible office, failure of pump, and the long time taken for pump maintenance are also the major factors. In Raya-Kobo valley food security is highly related to the availability of water. Irrigating the whole potential irrigable area, increasing and sustaining availability of groundwater and management of the irrigation scheme are vital to eradicate food insecurity from Raya-Kobo valley.

This paper explores children's understandings of poverty, ill‐being and well‐being in Ethiopia using data collected through group exercises with children aged 5–6 and 11–13 participating in Young Lives, an international study of childhood poverty. In some respects the characteristics of poverty reported by children resemble those reported by adults participating in similar exercises. However, the children's addition of appearance and clothing, and their explanations of the reasoning behind the importance of these indicators of well‐being reflect growing inequalities in Ethiopia, where experiences of relative poverty and social exclusion are increasingly common. This evidence argues for broadening the focus of child poverty reduction to include the psychosocial costs of lacking the culturally specific resources required for full participation in society. The paper also illustrates ways in which poverty can be explored by asking about ill‐being and that children as young as five years are able to address these themes through well‐designed research methods.

Abstract
Although Ethiopia is one of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC), there is a lack of empirical studies about the determinants of its external indebtedness. This paper aims to fill this gap by examining the macroeconomic determinants of the external indebtedness of Ethiopia between 1981 and 2016, using the two- and three-gap models as a theoretical framework and an autoregressive distributed lag bound testing approach. The result shows that in the long run, the savings-investment gap, trade deficit, fiscal deficit, and debt service have a positive and significant impact on external indebtedness. However, the growth rate of gross domestic product, trade openness, and inflation negatively and significantly affect the external indebtedness of the country. These results coincide with the predictions of the two- and three-gap models of the theoretical framework. The study argues that appropriate macroeconomic, social, and supply-side policies are essential to reducing the external indebtedness of Ethiopia.

Improved technologies are increasingly promoted to farmers in sub-Saharan-African countries to address low agricultural productivity in their staple crops. There is, however, a lack of evidence on how adoption affects farmers' labor use and profitability at the farm level, as well as the importance gender roles play, all essential drivers for the successful up-scaling of the use of the improved technologies. This paper analyses the labor and profitability impact of the recently introduced row planting technology in teff production in Ethiopia. Based on agronomic evidence in experimental settings, the Government of Ethiopia has focused extension efforts on promoting the widespread uptake of row planting to address low teff yields, replacing the traditional broadcasting method of plant teff. Using an innovative Randomized Controlled Trial set-up, we show that the implementation of row planting at the farm level significantly increases total labor use, but not teff yields, relative to broadcast planting, resulting in a substantial drop in labor productivity when adopting row planting. Moreover, the implementation of row planting has important consequences for inter- and intra-household labor allocation, with relatively more use of non-family labor. The adoption of row planting was further found not to be profitable for farmers in the first year of the promotion campaign, seemingly explaining the limited success in up-scaling the adoption of the technology by farmers in the second year of the program. ; Non-PR ; IFPRI2; CRP2; ESSP; DCA; A Ensuring Sustainable food production; D Transforming Agriculture; G Cross-cutting gender theme ; DSGD; PIM ; CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM)

Under Abdel Fatah al-Sisi Egypt has moderated its stance in the Nile water dispute with Ethiopia, the most important state upstream. In the conflict over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), Cairo is now seeking cooperation rather than conflict. But this rapprochement is not driven by any fundamental reversal in Egypt's Nile water policy. Instead, Cairo recognises that its options are restricted by the advanced state of dam construction. In addition it sees Ethiopia as an increasingly important partner, especially in matters of regional security. While Egyptian-Ethiopian conflict over distribution and usage of the water is currently on the back-burner, the issue is by no means resolved. (SWP Comments)

This article addresses the protracted state of political violence in and around the Borana and Guji zones of Oromia region after the introduction of ethnic federalism in Ethiopia. To account for the persistence of the conflict, we must elaborate on the connections between ethnic identity, natural resource and customary institutions by introducing the notion of oprimary identityo. Since the turn of the millennium there is in Ethiopia a theoretically grounded attempt to co-opt customary institutions and elders into modern governance, particularly in the pastoral sector. Field-research focused on the interplay of customary and modern politics during two electoral events, the 2004 referendum organised to solve the border issue between the Somali Regional State and Oromia, and the 2005 national elections. Analysis of local political dynamics indicates that the strategy of the federal government was shaped by the need to control the insurgency of the Oromo Liberation Front. Local political motivations also played a role. The combination of these two factors resulted in systematic abuse of human rights and the manipulation of development and refugees policies, involving an informal odemographic politics of spaceo that displaced the Borana Oromo from a large area of their customary territory, relegating them into a state of permanent food dependency. It is argued that the restoration and strengthening of customary governance holds the best prospect for improving this situation.